Chicago's
curricular laundry aired in the late 1998 and early 1999 press-including
the front-page New York Times story "Winds of
Change Rustle University of Chicago"-was hung on the
line again in Lingua Franca's April issue. Berkeley
public-policy professor David L. Kirp, who is currently writing
a book on higher education in the age of money, condensed
the debate in "Hurricane Hugo," a retrospective
of the campus controversy that could be characterized in reductionist
terms as the life of the mind vs. the life of the wallet.
The
headline, of course, refers to Hugo Sonnenschein, Chicago's
president during its tumultuous self-evaluation of the mid-1990s.
"Although Hugo Sonnenschein may have lost the personal
battle," observes Kirp, alluding to the president's 1999
decision to step down, "he has won the war, for all his
priorities are firmly in place." Kirp is referring here
to the larger undergraduate student body, the reduction of
the College core requirements, and the increased publicizing
of the U of C's merits. Although there is still concern in
some corners that the University is being run like a business,
Kirp assures his readers that "All's quiet on the curricular
front."-C.S.
Bird
Watching 
©2001 The University
of Chicago® Magazine